Water has been restored to the majority of homes in Thanet following a "distressing" 24 hours.

A burst pipe cut off as many as 20,000 homes, causing "gridlock" as residents queued for bottled supplies.

Southern Water confirmed at 4pm that taps are now running in most homes across the district after the damaged main was repaired earlier today.

A spokesman said: "With the burst fixed, the majority of our customers should now be back in supply. If you don’t have water, please call us on 0330 303 0368.

"Finding and fixing the burst was complicated and we needed to restore water pressure slowly to avoid further incidents. We would like to thank our customers for their patience. We recognise the inconvenience and distress this situation has caused and we are sorry."

The spokesman said customers would be updated about compensation payments in the coming days, which will be credited to accounts.

Bottled water stations will remain open at Dane Court Grammar School and St George’s School, and deliveries to vulnerable customers will continue "as a precautionary measure," the firm added.

This morning, the company said engineers had worked "through the night" to fix the burst pipe.

The chaos of the past few days left residents uneasy due to the uncertainty around when they would have water again.

South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay said tensions rose to the point that his staff were verbally abused.

He tweeted this afternoon: "As Thanet water returns, I’m disgusted that a resident took anger out on Southern Water by banging on my constituency office door yesterday and shouting at a team member, leaving her fearful of leaving the office.

"I don’t control the [water] company. Direct your anger at them, not my staff."

Among those in the queues for bottled supplies this morning were Barbara Luton, who lives in St Peter's, and John Blackgrove, from Broadstairs, who have been without water for two days.

Barbara said: "Yesterday we tried to get water from the supermarket but there were long queues and they didn't have any in stock. So that's why we're here today."

John added: "It's a bit of an inconvenience rather than a big problem. But the longer it goes on, the worse it will get.

"Not being able to wash up properly or clean yourself properly - we can cope for a few days but beyond that I think it will be a big problem."

Also waiting for bottled water was Jyoti Sharma, of Broadstairs Road.

The 40-year-old, who has a son in Year 9 at Dane Court, says she was forced to bring a suitcase to transport water home as her husband is out of town with the car.

"I decided to come here because everywhere, even in the shops, water is not available," she said.

Dominic Blair tweeted Southern Water: "We have a sick nine-month-old baby and have no running water and no delivery, even though we're on the vulnerable list. When will the issue be fixed?"

Danielle Anderson said Pierremont Pharmacy in Broadstairs had been without water for 28 hours.

"Twenty-eight hours later and we still have no water in the pharmacy, along with no call back from the lady that assured me she would," she tweeted.

"Southern Water sort it out. How can a pharmacy not be a priority for a delivery of water?"

She later tweeted that the pharmacy had been told it was not a priority.

"We’re one of the only pharmacies in the Thanet area with antibiotic suspension that needs reconstituted with water before we supply it to children," she wrote.

"We’re running out of the 12 bottles we bought yesterday and we’ve been told we’re not a priority so won’t be getting a delivery."

Broadstairs resident Nick Hughes tweeted a picture this morning of five tankers sat outside his house, which he says have been there all night.

Southern Water set up two bottled water stations yesterday after finding the pipe would take some time to fix due to its location.

They could be found at the Asda in Broadstairs and Dane Court School.

Motorists were stuck "for hours" attempting to access the two stations, located just 200 metres apart.

But only Dane Court School reopened this morning for residents, along with a new station at St George's School.

The water supply at Margate's QEQM Hopsital was unaffected by the issue.

Separately, thousands more homes have been without water for almost a week after pipes burst and froze due to cold weather in Tunbridge Wells.

MP Greg Clark is demanding South East Water compensate people immediately.